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The purpose of this paper is to find the relationship of palaeontology, palaeobotany and coal thickness of Taiyuan Formation during Late Carboniferous – Early Permian Period in Shanxi Province.

This paper selects three regions, namely, Baode, Xishan and Lingchuan, to analyse the distribution characteristics of palaeontology, palaeobotany and variation of coal thickness.

It was found that in a certain period of geological history, palaeontology and palaeobotany play a dominant role in shaping of a coal-bearing basin. Coal seam thickness changes largely from the northwest to the southeast, gradually thinning in Taiyuan Formation.

Palaeontology and palaeobotany play a dominant role in the shaping of a coal-bearing basin.

The purpose of this paper is to frame an empirical model with the priority of implementing soft critical successful factors (CSFs) of total quality management (TQM) in Chinese manufacturing companies.

In total, 23 hypotheses regarding the relationships among TQM factors and business results have been developed through literature review and are tested using the structural equation modelling (SEM). The data used in this study are collected from 228 manufacturing companies in the central area of China.

Of the 23 hypotheses, 11 were statistically significant, and according to the empirical results a conceptual framework complying to Chinese condition is constructed and discussed in the finding parts to group soft CSFs of TQM into different levels of importance.

Researchers can use the framework to further study soft CSFs of TQM in detail, and extend it to explore their impact mechanism for a clearer and deeper understanding of the TQM.

The empirical framework for soft CSFs of TQM provides a new perspective for managers to implement the soft CSFs and optimise the quality management system of their manufacturing companies.

This research uses multiple, distinct indicators for each soft factor to test an elaborate SEM model of the relationships among them, according to the empirical results constructs a holistic framework classifying the importance level of soft CSFs of TQM, which is novel and subjected with Chinese condition and manufacturing characteristics.

Provides a general description of the movement for library services for children and children’s libraries, together with the modern public library movement in post‐war Japan. The Bunko as a home library, or a community‐based small library, is quite characteristic of Japan. The Bunko movement played an important role in improving the reading environment of children and the library service for children. The Chusho‐report (1963) and Shimin‐no‐Toshokan (1970) changed the concept of the public library in Japan. They contributed to an increase in reading facilities for children and the establishment of new public libraries. Children’s libraries at the national, public and private level are also described.

For the laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF) technology, the side surface quality is essentially important for industrial applicated parts, such as the inner flow parts. Contour is generally adopted at the parts’ outline to enhance the side surface quality. However, the side surface roughness (Ra) is still larger than 10 microns even with contour in previous studies. The purpose of this paper is to study the influence of contour process parameters, laser power and scanning velocity on the side surface quality of the AlSi10Mg sample.

Using L-PBF technology to manufacture AlSi10Mg samples under different contour process parameters, use a laser confocal microscope to capture the surface information of the samples, and obtain the surface roughness Ra and the maximum surface height Rz of each sample after analysis and processing.

The results show that the side surface roughness decreases with the increase of the laser power at the fixed scanning velocity of 1,000 mm/s, the side surface roughness Ra stays within the error range as the contour velocity increases. It is found that the Ra increases with the scanning velocity increasing and the greater the laser power with the greater Ra increases when the laser power of contour process parameters is 300 W, 350 W and 400 W. The Rz maintain growth with the contour scanning velocity increasing at constant laser power. The continuous uniform contour covers the pores in the molten pool of the sample edge and thus increase the density of the sample. Two mechanisms named “Active adhesion” and “Passive adhesion” cause sticky powder.

Formation of a uniform and even contour track is key to obtain the good side surface quality. The side surface quality is determined by the uniformity and stability of the contour track when the layer thickness is fixed. These research results can provide helpful guidance to improve the surface quality of L-PBF manufactured parts.

Japan’s civic environmentalism combines a tradition of local protest and activism with a national environmental movement that is limited in size and policy influence. A strong legislative and administrative response to the country’s severe pollution crisis of the 1960s and 1970s helped tamp down that era’s wave of protests and keep the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in power. While the state has generally supported local organizations engaged in environmental improvement activities, it has erected barriers that limit the scope of non-governmental organization (NGO) activities and inhibit the development of an influential national environmental movement. The 1990s reforms, inspired in part by the citizen response to the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake, made it easier for NGOs to attain legal status and raise funds. Yet Japan’s civic environmentalism – by most measures – still lags well behind that of peer industrialized countries. The 2011 tsunami and nuclear crisis brought another opportunity for major reforms to the nation’s civic environmental culture – but the evidence to date indicates that the much anticipated transformation is turning out to be of a lesser magnitude than many had initially expected.

Skippable video advertising offers users the option to skip directly to their desired video content after viewing a limited amount of advertising and is becoming a format increasingly preferred by advertisers. This study constructed a mediator model based on advertising attitude to examine the influence of users' perceived control and perceived intrusiveness on brand attitude and advertising avoidance intention in skippable video ads.

The study considered the structural equation model using a self-reporting measure method. The research model was tested using a sample of 302 respondents.

The results showed that perceived control positively affected ad and brand attitude and negatively affected advertising avoidance intention. Perceived intrusiveness negatively affected attitudes toward the advertising and the brand but positively affected advertising avoidance intention. Ad attitude and brand attitude had no significant influence on advertising avoidance intention. The results also confirmed that ad attitude mediates the path from perceived control and intrusiveness to brand attitude.

This study further enriches the theoretical development of skippable video ads and expands the perspective and scope of interactive advertising research.

To fabricate high performance parts, this paper aims to systematically study the pores characteristics and their formation mechanisms in selective laser melting (SLM) AlSi10Mg.

Cubes of 10 × 10 × 5 mm were manufactured in different laser power, scan speed and scan space. Optical microscope (OM) and scanning electron microscopes (SEM) were used to observe morphology of pores.

Round or irregular pores were found in SLMed AlSi10Mg parts. All the round pores have smooth inner walls and locate in the melt pool. The formation mechanisms of the round pores are contributed to the evaporation of elements in the melt pool, H₂O, high laser energy input and hollow powder. Irregular pores have rough inner walls. Big scan space, unevenness of the upper surface, large layer thickness, spatter and oxide are the main reasons of generating irregular pores which outside the melt pool. Instability of keyhole leads to the irregular pores locate in the bottom of keyhole mode melt pool.

Relationship between pores and melt pool were studied systematically for the first time. Researches of pores characteristics and their formation mechanisms in SLMed AlSi10Mg would be a valuable reference for researchers to obtain an important insight into and control the defect in SLMed Al alloy.

Currently, learning in international joint ventures between developing and developed countries tends to be viewed as a one‐way process, with Western partners assuming superiority in both technology and management. Learning is often dominated by the rational drive to achieve organisational effectiveness without sufficient attention to cultural differences, which has created problems of mutual understanding. In this paper we examine learning processes in Chinese‐Western joint ventures as well as the cultural context where learning is taking place. We argue that improved management of joint ventures lies in the process of collective learning of joint venture partners. To achieve this, it is important for partners from diverse cultures and socio‐economic backgrounds to understand the different modes of managing and organising. We illustrate this with examples from our study of Chinese‐Western joint ventures.

The purpose of this paper is to provide the historical and social contexts for the three protests in Macau in the Summer of 2014, while examining the popular discourse of the protests. These include simultaneous eruptions toward immediate issues, the political apathy of Macau residents and Castell’s model of “networked social networks.” It also discusses the competition for youth after the protests.

This paper first reviews the history of Macau, in particular the people’s struggle against corruption and privilege, and its little-discussed history of protest. Its innovation in communications, political structure and education development are also explained to illustrate the foundations which make possible protests against an obsolete social structure.

The author finds that the history of Macau since the nineteenth century does not lack protests, with goals ranging from protests against colonialism to national and local demands. Macau youth are now more able and willing to mobilize themselves to make demands on the administration, and activists find it necessary to pass down such experience for generations to come.

The paper deconstructs the traditional image of Macau’s politics, by appealing to the linkage between continuity and contemporary events, and calls for the reader’s attention toward its social activism.

When a natural disaster occurs, the media directs the public’s attention to the key elements of disaster management and provides accounts of how effective the government is in responding to it. This study analyzed 80 reports contained in 21 stories published in three international newspapers and 35 editorial statements from 21 editorials obtained from two national papers regarding the Japanese government’s responses to the great Hanshin-Awaji earthquake. Issue clusters for different levels of government responding to the crisis were identified. The lack of systematic reactions to the crisis provoked the most media scrutiny. The legitimacy of the government’s behaviors in this area were perceived more negatively by the media than were the inappropriate behavior of elected officials or the lack of care expressed towards the victims by local officials.